


Overwhelmed

by Eliyes



Category: Marvel (Comics), Mutant X (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Betrayal, Earth-1298, Gen, Platonic Cuddling, Sensory Deprivation, The Six (team)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2013-12-27
Packaged: 2018-01-06 08:45:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliyes/pseuds/Eliyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bob's reaction to what happened, to him and to Hank.<br/>---<br/>Set during <i>Mutant X #25</i>, before the "Days Later..." time skip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overwhelmed

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted on Livejournal February 18, 2009.
> 
> Please note, in case my tags get incorrectly wrangled, that the _Mutant X_ comic was not connected to the TV show by the same name. It was a canonical alternate reality (Earth-1298) into which the Alex Summers from the main reality (Earth-616) was swapped with his counterpart. You can find out more about the reality this comic was set in [here](http://marvel.wikia.com/Earth-1298).

 

That first night -- after Brute returned Ice-Man to flesh and then lost his intelligence again, and after they realised that there was nothing they could do to reverse the regression -- that first night, Bob slept tangled in the pillow-heaped nest that Brute made of his bed. He wore a pair of borrowed boxer shorts, since he no longer kept normal clothes, and all night his skin brushed against fur and scales and Brute's warm, solid body. It was overwhelming -- Bob hadn't been able to touch another person without fatal consequences for _years_ , and maybe he should have started slow, but Brute was so _happy_ that Bob could "turn not-ice"... Even though he didn't really understand that _he_ was the one who had freed Bob, Brute -- _Hank_ \-- was _so_ happy to be able to hug his friend again. He had always been physically demonstrative, and for the first time since he'd been robbed of his genius, Bob was able to comfort him with _touch_ , and he would _not_ give it up.

Besides, Bob needed comfort, too -- _needed_ to be overwhelmed. He was used to his life being unstable, but the changes of just the past week had been emotionally exhausting. Hank had recovered from his brain damage -- and then lost all he had regained. The accident which had caused it was revealed as sabotage on the part of the old Alex. The _new_ Alex had had the chance to go home -- but had chosen to stay. And Bob had finally been cured, released from the lonesome prison of his own frozen body, in which he had been trapped since Loki had experimented on him.

It was just too _much_ \-- too much to think about, too many emotional upheavals in too short of a time. So he didn't try, that first night, after they faced the fact that there was nothing they could do for Brute. The only one who could have saved Dr. Hank McCoy was _Dr. Hank McCoy_ , and he had not only known that, but he had consciously chosen to help his friends, instead. Brute couldn't really remember any of the details of that help, of that _choice_ , but it had still been _him_. _His_ love, _his_ giving spirit. Next to that, Bob's own bitterness over the wasted years and the betrayal born of Alex's blind jealousy, his grief over what Brute had once again been reduced to, seemed selfish, even shameful. That only made him feel it all the more keenly.

That first night saw him dissolve into a sobbing wreck, cradled in his friend's arms. Just as he hadn't been able to touch, Ice-Man had been denied the release of tears for so long that now, he couldn't seem to _stop_. He couldn't even _explain_. He cried until the whole of his body ached; his head pounded; his eyes and throat burned; his face was raw and reddened. He clung to Brute, and Brute in turn curled around him, keening with worry and holding Bob tight so that he couldn't fly apart with the force of releasing so much, so fast.  


 


End file.
